2004-2005 Calendar Highlights

August 2004

Target Training: Expanding the Theatre Manager's Repertoire. Kansas City, MO.

For the seventh consecutive year, Expanding the Theatre Manager's Repertoire, TCG's human resources training program, was offered in partnership with Target Stores. The program is adapted from Target's human resources curriculum to meet the needs of theatre professionals who manage staff. Led by the dynamic Robbin Walker, senior training consultant at Target, this interactive and practical workshop is designed to help theatre managers at all levels improve human resources skills. Topical sessions focused on coaching and developing staff, managing conflict, influencing others and being an agent for change. The workshop was attended to maximum capacity, with 65 theatre practitioners from across the country.

August 2004

New Artistic Leader Institute. Princeton, NJ.

Our biennial training program, the New Artistic Leader Institute, was held at the McCarter Theatre Center and was hosted for the first time in conjunction with Dance/USA. Developed in response to the lack of training available to first-time artistic directors, the program provides attendees with an introduction to and analysis of the tools required to run a theatre company, covering fiscal management, marketing, media relationships, community involvement, board relations and working with a managing partner. Forty-two new artistic leaders were in attendance, more than doubling the size of any previous such gathering. We continued this successful partnership with Dance/USA by co-hosting a National Arts Strategies training workshop for artistic leaders prior to the TCG National Conference in Seattle.

September 2004

Nathan Cummings Foundation Convening for Theatres of Color. New York, NY.

Funded by the Nathan Cummings Foundation, this meeting was a follow up to the retreat held at the White Oak Plantation in Yulee, FL in 2003. TCG re-convened leaders from 26 African-American, Latino and Asian-American theatres to discuss changes at their organizations based on the previous meetings, and to continue to explore the challenges and opportunities facing American theatres of color today. Topics included the artistic process, funding, audience composition, leadership development, education/training and media/criticism.

An additional meeting of the Nathan Cummings Foundation Convening for Theatres of Color took place in June 2005 following the TCG National Conference in Seattle, WA. Leaders from 23 theatres participated in this continuing discussion on the challenges facing theatres of color.

October 2004

Fall Forum: Governance in an Age of Hard Choices. New York, NY.

The Roundabout Theatre Company hosted our annual Fall Forum on Governance, an event which recognizes the growing importance of trustees not only as the volunteer leaders of our theatres but as strong arts advocates in their communities. The event brought to New York over 100 theatre trustees, artistic leaders and managing directors from theatres across America. Participants gained insight into board development and governance, theatre finance and practice, funding and other issues. This year's forum featured Felix Rohatyn, renowned financier, global economist, urban policy expert, and former ambassador to France.

January 2005

Joint Meeting of the National Council for the American Theatre and the TCG Board of Directors. New York, NY.

Members of TCG's National Council for the American Theatre and Board of Directors met together at the Roundabout Theatre Company to discuss long-range plans for the organization and the field. The fresh perspectives yielded fruitful discussions on issues ranging from local relevance to national advocacy, from organizational identity to national identity, and from practical tactics for day-to-day survival to visionary national strategies for developing audiences and generating income for the field.

February 2005

APASO Conference: Maximizing Collective Strategies in Difficult Times. New York, NY.

In February of 2005, TCG hosted 82 participants for the annual Association of Performing Arts Service Organizations (APASO) conference in collaboration with ART/ New York, High 5 Tickets to the Arts, New Jersey Theatre Alliance and Theatre Development Fund. The event featured keynote speakers Robert Morrison, CEO/Chairman of the Music for All Foundation, and Kate Levin, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional plenary sessions and breakout discussions focused on a number of topics including: marketing strategies, new techniques in advocacy efforts, innovative collaborations and partnerships, and healthcare issues for arts service organizations.

June 2005

TCG National Conference

Our flagship 2005 TCG National Conference was held for the first time in the Pacific Northwest. Four Seattle theatres—ACT Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre—were our hosts, and Theatre Puget Sound, the local service organization, was instrumental in maximizing local participation. 825 participants attended the conference, making it the largest gathering the not-for-profit theatre field has ever seen. Now an annual event, the National Conference will be held in Atlanta in June 2006.

Managers Teleconferences

TCG offers a teleconference series moderated by an experienced professional from the field that enables geographically separated senior managers to find solutions to common problems. Teleconferences are held on a rotating basis for such groups as finance directors, company managers, development directors, marketing directors, literary managers, education directors, information services managers and other senior staff. During 2004-2005, 30 financial professionals participated in teleconferences moderated by Mary Kiely, director of finance at Huntington Theatre Company, and 39 company managers participated in teleconferences moderated by Katie Byrnes, company manager at CENTERSTAGE.

TCG also offers teleconferences specifically for theatre educators.